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TL1H
1. Introduction
2. What is the Collider of Hadrons?
3. Conclusions
4. Bibliography
Introduction
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful
particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains
the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-
kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating
structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.
Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the
beams around the accelerator. These include 1232 dipole magnets 15
metres in length which bend the beams, and 392 quadrupole magnets,
each 5–7 metres long, which focus the beams. Just prior to collision, another
type of magnet is used to "squeeze" the particles closer together to
increase the chances of collisions. The particles are so tiny that the task of
making them collide is akin to firing two needles 10 kilometres apart with
such precision that they meet halfway.
Conclusions